Multiple-tuck-folding attachment.



H. GORRALL. MULTIPLE TUGK FOLDING ATTACHMENT. APPLIOATION FILED OCT. 12, 1912.

1,1 06,787 Patented Aug. 11, 1914.

WITNESSES:

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HERBERT CORRALL, OF PARKVIEW, HELENSBURGH, SCOTLAND, ASSIGNOR TO THE SINGER MANUFACTURING COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

IVIULTIPLE-TUCK-FOLDING ATTACHMENT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 11, 1914.

Application filed October 12, 1912. Serial No. 725,411.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HERBERT CORRALL, a

subject of the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, residing at Parkview, Helensburgh, Dumbartonshire, Scotland, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in MultipleTuck-Folding Attachments, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying.drawings.

This invention relates to tuck-folding attachments for sewing machines of the kind shown and described in the United States patent to Charles H. Foster No. 575,342, of January 19, 1897, andcomprises series ofupper andlower forming members with the upper members interposed between and alternatingwiththe lower members in such manner as to guide and fold the fabric into plaits or tucks as it is fed to multiple needle I stitching devices.

In the use of such attachments, a difliculty has hitherto arisen in withdrawing the work when plaits are "formed only for a portion of its length, as in the bosoms of night dresses,

for example, owing to the liability of tearing the fabric or creasing the plain portion of the goods by the action of the usually converging forming members. 30

The object of the invention is to overcome this difficulty, and to that end the lower so ries of forming members is preferably fitted be readily withdrawn from beneath the upper series of forming members after the stitching operation is finished and permit theunstitched fabric to be flattened out and freely removed from the machine, without injury to its form or texture.

'VVhile in some cases upper and lower fiat plates with their adjacent faces convergently grooved or corrugated have been employed for producing initial folds for delivery to the alternating upper and lower tucking blades by means of which the folds are presented to the stitch-forming mechanism, as shown and described in the said Patent No. 575,342, it is evidently immaterial whether the alternating corrugations be formed integral or separately, for instance, as disclosed in the pending application of Charles M. Horton, Serial No. 645,606, filed August 23, 1911. i

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a portion of a sewing machine provided with a tuck-folding attachment embodying the present improvement, and Fig. 2 an end View of the attachment and a portion of the bed-plate affording a support for the guideway sustaining the lower member. Fig. 3 is a plan of the lower forming member. Fig. 1 is an enlarged elevation of the tucking blades viewed from the delivery end and showing the material in position.

The sewing machine comprises the usual bed-plate 1 and bracket-arm 2 in the head 2 of which is journaled the reciprocating needle-bar 3 carrying the multiple needle-clamp .4 in which are secured the needles 5. WVithcured the presser-foot comprising the shank 7 and rocking foot-plate 8 normally resting upon the throat-plate 9 formed with the usual needle-holes and feed-dog apertures through which latter extend the serrated feed-dog sections 10. i

The top of the bed-plate is cut away at its front to form a slightly depressed seat upon which are secured bymeans of screws 11 the parallelguide-bars 12 formed in their adjacent edges with parallel slightly undercut grooves 13 each provided near its forward extremity with the stop-screw 14. These grooves afford in conjunction with each other a slideway for the lower or primary forming plate 15, whose opposite edges are fitted thereto.

T 1e upper face of the forming plate 15 is provided with a series of convergent ribs or corrugations 16 which are comparatively shallow at their front ends and are gradually contracted in width and deepened toward the opposite end at which they merge into the spaced and progressively laterally inclined or twisted primary tucking blades Secured to the lower portion of the bracket-arm head is a lateral supporting arm having a depending extension 21 formed with a guideway in which is con fined by means of the stud-screw 22 entering a slot 23 therein, the bar 24 having at its lower end theflange 25 to the lower face of which is secured by fastening screws 26 the top of the secondary forming plate 27 having its lower face formed with convex-gently inclined ribs or corrugations 28 adapted to the crank screw-stud 31 carried by the lifting lever 32 which is fulcrumed by means of the screw-stud 33 upon the arm 20, whereby the turning of the lifting lever 32 causes the vertical movement of the secondary forming plate 27 to shift its forming elements into and out of intermeshing relation with those of the lower or primary forming plate so as to facilitate the introduction and removal of the work.

Secured in a suitable seat upon the supporting arm 20 by means of the screw as is the depending rigid arm 35 having at its lower end the lateral extension 36 in which are secured by means of fastening screws 37 the shanks 88 of the secondary tucking blades which are formed with the inclined portions 39 each overlying but laterally spaced from one of the primary foldingblades 17 and terminating in the lateral flange 10 extending toward the base of the adjacent blade 17 and slightly across the line of its respective needle relatively to the direction of feed.

In the use of the attachment, the primary forming plate 15 is advanced into operative position, as represented in full lines in Fig.

1, the secondary forming plate being ele-.

vated as also represented in said figure. The material we is then introduced between the plates and the upper plate lowered into nearly operative position to bend it into corrugations which increase in depth and decrease in width up to the adjacent extremities of the tucking blades 17 at which they merge into sharp folds m which are advanced along such blades while the intervening fabric passes beneath the flanges 40 of the upper tucking blades. The lowering of the secondary forming plate 27 is then. completed and the presser-foot lowered upon the advance extremity of the material which crushes down the then inclined folds into flat plaits which are stitched together upon the body fabric at theirbasesflin a manner well known.

When the folding and stitching have proceeded sufiiciently into the body of the fabric, the stitching is arrested and the presserfoot and secondary forming plate lifted. The primary forming plate 15 is then retracted, as represented in dotted lines in Fig. 1, sufliciently to withdraw the tucking blades 17 endwise wholly beyond the forward extremities of the secondary tucking blades, thereby removing the support of the interposed fabric and permitting the un-' stitched portions of the folds to be flattened out so as to be readily withdrawn laterally from the attachment and without creasing or otherwise injuring the same.

The outer or fabric-creasing edges ofthe primary tucking blades areshown (Fig; 3) inclined to the direction of feed or to the bases of such blades, and in order to facilitate the retraction of suchblades without materially disturbing the folds of fabric embracing them, the guideway 13 is inclinedto the direction of feed at substantially the same angle as such fabric-creasing edges, thereby permitting the latter to be drawn readily through such folds without distorting or stretching the same in their initial retracted movement. 7

While I have shown herein. a preferred construction of tucking guide to'which the present improvement is applied, the par- 1 ticular type of tuck-forming guide in which the same is embodied is obviously immaterial, the essence of the present improvement being the mounting of the interlocking series of tucking blades in such manner that one may be retracted endwise from operative relation with the other to enable the interposed fabric to be flattened out and thus facilitate the removal of the fabric in cases wherein the tuckin extends only partially across the body fabric and terminates intermediate the edges thereof.

Having thus set forth the nature of the invention, what I claim hereinis:-

1. A tucking device comprising a primary series of laterally spaced tucking blades rigidly connected together at their bases, 1a

secondary series of oppositely directed tucking blades interposed between and alternating with those of the primary'ser ies, and

means whereby the blades of one of said series may be withdrawn in a direction lengthwise thereof from interlocking relation with the blades of the other series.

2. A tucking device comprising a primary series of laterallyspacedtucking blades, a connecting member whereby said blades are rigidly secured together, a support formed with a slideway arranged substantiallyparallel with longitudinally disposed operative portions of said blades and in which said member is mounted for movement lengthwise of the latter, and a secondary series of oppositely direct tucking blades interposed between and alternating with those of the primary series and relative to which the primary blades are movable.

3. A tucking device comprising a lower corrugated forming plate having converging ribs formed at their adjacent ends with progressively inclined or twisted tucking blades, a rigid support formed with a guide- Way disposed lengthwise of said blades and to which said plate is fitted for movement exceeding the length of said blades, an upper corrugated forming plate having converging ribs alternating with those of the lower forming plate and provided with means for shifting it into and out of intermeshing relation therewith, and a series of 20 HERBERT CORRALL.

Witnesses:

HENRY J. MILLER, HENRY A. KORNEMANN, Jr.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

